
Here’s the Guardians’ lineup:
Here’s the White Sox lineup:
Let’s go, Guardians!

Here’s the Guardians’ lineup:
Here’s the White Sox lineup:
Let’s go, Guardians!

This will be the last day of 2026 in which there will be four MLB games. This thread is for the first two, Game 3 of the Guardians/White Sox ALDS and Game 4 of the Dodgers/Braves NLDS.
Another thread will post at 6:30 p.m. CT for the two night games.
TV: TBS, truTV, HBO Max (streaming). Announcers: Alex Faust, Ron Darling and Lauren Jbara.
Daniel Espino, RHP vs. Sean Newcomb, LHP
Baseball-reference.com preview
TV: FS1. Announcers: Joe Davis, John Smoltz and Ken Rosenthal.
Tyler Glasnow, RHP vs. Tyler Mahle, RHP

The Dodgers are back in Atlanta for Game 4 of the NLDS on Wednesday, needing just one more win to clinch the series. After getting to Chris Sale in Game 3, the Dodgers will face right-hander Tyler Mahle, who has turned heads since being acquired at the trade deadline from the San Francisco Giants.
After batting fifth in the starting lineup for the first time as a Dodger, Shohei Ohtani will once again be hitting in the middle third of the order, this time moving up to the cleanup spot with Teoscar Hernández sliding down to the fifth spot in the order.
Max Muncy makes his first start this series since batting 8th in Game 1 against left-hander Dylan Dodd, this time batting sixth in the lineup with Miguel Rojas getting the day off after dealing with bat tightness. The hero of Game 3 on offense, Kiké Hernández, makes his second straight start, this time batting seventh while getting the start at second base. Kyle Tucker once again hits in the 8 spot while Andy Pages rounds things out after a multi-hit performance.
Runs have been hard to come by so far this series, as the Dodgers have plated just 10 combined runs over their first three postseason games, all of which have come via home runs. The main Achilles heel for the Dodgers has been their consistent inability to produce with runners in scoring position, as the team is 0-13 in those situations. The Braves, to their credit, have managed to get one hit with runners in scoring position, albeit across 14 at-bats, and have combined to score just eight runs over the first three games.
The Dodgers have fared well in previous matchups against Mahle, as the right-hander has a combined 3-3 record with a 3.15 ERA. Most of the damage came when Mahle was still with the Cincinnati Reds, and in his most recent start against the Dodgers back when he was with San Francisco, he shut them down over seven shutout innings in a 3-0 Giants win on April 22. Since joining Atlanta, Mahle finished the regular season with a 1.99 ERA and limited the Philadelphia Phillies to just one run in his most recent Wild Card start.

ATLANTA — Another day, another new spot in the lineup for Shohei Ohtani.
After batting the two-way star in the five-hole on Tuesday in a 3-1 win over the Braves in the National League Division Series — the lowest Ohtani had hit since the 2020 season with the Angels –– the Dodgers bumped the slumping four-time MVP up for their potential series-clinching Game 4 showdown with Braves right-hander Tyler Mahle on Wednesday, slotting him in the cleanup spot for his first time with the team.

That was one of several changes the Dodgers made as they looked to book a spot in the NL Championship Series.
Game 3 hero Kiké Hernández remained in the lineup, even against a right-handed pitcher, coming off his latest October highlight with a go-ahead home run against Chris Sale on Tuesday.
Max Muncy also returned to the starting nine for the first time since Game 1, having come off the bench the previous two games with the Braves starting left-handed pitchers.
Miguel Rojas did not get a start after tweaking his back on a swing Tuesday that forced him to leave Game 3 early (he was initially optimistic he hadn’t suffered anything too serious, but the team wanted to see how he felt pregame Wednesday before deciding on his availability).
Andy Pages, meanwhile, was dropped into the nine-hole, where he will look to build off a two-hit performance in Game 3 that snapped his previous 0-for-8 slump to start the series.
All eyes, of course, will be on Ohtani in Game 4.

The injury-hampered slugger has looked little like his typically dominant self this week, going 2-for-10 so far this series with one walk, three strikeouts and several empty at-bats with runners on base.
The 32-year-old is still searching for his first home run since Aug. 18, having suffered a power outage amid ongoing right arm and left knee injuries. He also has just one RBI in that span, hitting .163 in his last 21 games (including both regular-season and postseason play).
“I still thought his intent, the at-bats were better,” manager Dave Roberts said after Game 3, when the Dodgers overcame Ohtani’s lack of production again to take a 2-1 series lead. “It’s good to know that we can still win games without him doing a whole bunch. But he’s going to come to life. It will happen.”
Their hope on Wednesday: That a new spot in the batting order would help him snap out of his extended, physically diminished funk.
Tyrrell Hatton and other big names likely to follow
Tour filed for bankruptcy after Saudi funding withdrawn
Confirmation that Jon Rahm will play no part in LIV Golf in its post-Saudi Arabian form is likely to be only the start of a mass exodus from the breakaway circuit.
A bankruptcy hearing on Wednesday heard Rahm’s lawyer say “unacceptable” terms proposed by LIV 2.0 mean the Spaniard will shortly walk away from a tour which has lingering hopes of continuing as a going concern. Rahm’s departure from LIV, which he joined in 2023, was inevitable, but still a significant blow and moment in time given his status in his sport.
Continue reading...Roughly 24 hours before he and his Oregon men’s basketball players were set to speak at Big Ten media days in Rosemont, Illinois, Dana Altman decided that after nearly 40 years as a Division I head coach, it was time to call it a career.
The longtime Ducks coach retired effective immediately on Wednesday, Oct. 7, only 26 days before they tip off their 2026-27 season against Montana.
The fact that the news is only so stunning says quite a bit about where college basketball finds itself in 2026.
The early fall surprise that’s long been a staple of American politics, with an unexpected piece of unsavory news about a candidate dropping in the final weeks before Election Day, has come to college basketball in a different color in recent years — namely, with prominent coaches abruptly hanging up their whistles right before a new season.
Two years ago, Tony Bennett shocked much of the sport by retiring from Virginia at just 55 years old, and doing so on Oct. 17, just 20 days before the Cavaliers’ season-opener. Last year, and fresh off his second Final Four appearance in seven seasons, Bruce Pearl stepped away at Auburn to take an ambassador role in the university’s athletic department shortly after preseason practices began in late September.
Now, after weeks and months of speculation over who might follow in their footsteps, we have our answer.
In a vacuum, Altman’s retirement is understandable. He’s 68 years old. He’s enjoyed a long, successful and lucrative career. His legacy at Oregon and in the broader college basketball world is intact as a brilliant tactical mind who was a reliable winner everywhere he coached, including at Oregon, which he led to four conference championships and the 2017 Final Four, the program’s first since 1939.
But for all of those achievements, things were beginning to trend in the wrong direction. Last season, the Ducks went 12-20, marking the first time they’d finished with a losing record or fewer than 20 wins under Altman. Despite some nice pickups like San Francisco transfer Tyrone Riley, this year’s team wasn’t expected to be significantly better, with many projections having it in the bottom third of the 18-team Big Ten.
But while the decision to retire is entirely rational for Altman, the timing does raise eyebrows.
In a release from the school announcing his retirement, Altman didn’t offer up a reason beyond noting it was one of the two most difficult decisions of his coaching career, alongside his choice to leave Creighton for Oregon back in 2010.
“I've loved every minute of coaching here, and stepping away is difficult and truly painful,” Altman said in a statement. “I love coaching, it's what I know best and what I've been fortunate enough to do for almost five decades. I'm going to miss my coaches, my players and our incredible fans more than I can express. But I know this is the right thing to do at this time.”
Bennett wasn’t shy about why he stepped down at an age when he was just starting to receive AARP mailers, pointing to the effect NIL deals and the transfer portal had on the game and the way it operated. Pearl cited a promise he’d made to himself to step away when he could no longer give it his all and “be the relentless competitor you expected of me.”
There was some tactical maneuvering at play, too. In Bennett’s case, retiring so close to the start of the season gave Virginia no other choice but to elevate one of his longtime assistants, Ron Sanchez, to the interim role and give him a season to audition for the job. At Auburn, Pearl’s thinly qualified son, Steven, was not only promoted to the head job, but given a five-year contract.
That doesn’t appear to be the case at Oregon, where Tony Stubblefield — one of Altman’s longtime assistants —will serve as the interim head coach for the upcoming season. Even if the Ducks turn heads, finish in the top half of the Big Ten and crash the NCAA tournament, would a school with Oregon’s financial resources and aspirations feel comfortable turning the program over to a 56-year-old who went 9-38 in conference play in three seasons at DePaul?
When discussing his retirement with reporters on Wednesday, hours after the news first broke, Altman said health factored into his decision. While it's not anything life-threatening, he said he had a physical last month that revealed he is "not as healthy as I should be and not as healthy as I want to be." Beyond that, the rationale for his retirement sounded quite a bit like Pearl's from 13 months ago.
"Someone I truly respect, Tom Izzo, made a comment. Somebody asked him about retirement, and he said, ‘The minute I don't feel good, the minute I don't feel I'm giving my AD, president and school every ounce of energy I have every day, or that energy drops, you don't have to worry about me being here,'" Altman said. "I had two weeks off in August, and I thought my energy would return, and it didn't. And some people I trust and truly respect told me just delegate more and take it easier, back off a little bit, and I tried that for a couple weeks in September, and that's not me. It's not what I've done for 37 years.
"I looked in the mirror, and I'd be a hypocrite if I lied to myself and said I was the best coach for the job. I think Tony will do a better job than I would with this team."
For such a deeply personal decision, he deserves some grace. Like it is for even some of the best coaches in the sport’s history, it was just time, even if it came at an awkward point in the calendar.
His choice to leave the sideline, though, can’t be separated from the similar moves that were made in the preceding years. While Bennett’s departure could have been written off as a realization that came off at an inopportune time, Altman’s exit shows there’s a trend.
The sport is changing at a dizzying pace, which has undoubtedly made coaches’ lives more burdensome. But in college football, where coaches deal with many of the same newfound headaches, there hasn’t been an avalanche of June and July retirements. Nor is it an issue in women's college basketball, where legends like Tara VanDerveer and Muffet McGraw retired in recent years the spring, giving their players, assistants and universities plenty of time to adjust before the first tip-off of the next season.
Why it’s happening remains a mystery without a clear throughline. But in the meantime, these late-breaking retirements have effects on others, namely the players who, for as demonized as they can be in the current NIL landscape, will have to trudge through what’s likely to be a lost season without the coach for whom they came there to play.
And in a sport littered with coaching luminaries who are in their 60s and 70s, Altman’s likely not to be the last to call it quits on the eve of a season. We’ll just have to wait 11 or 12 months to see who’s next.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dana Altman's retirement in offseason's twilight becomes latest in mysterious trend
Longtime Oregon men's basketball coach Dana Altman announced his retirement from coaching on Wednesday, Oct. 7, less than a month from the Ducks' season opener against Montana on Nov. 2.
Assistant coach Tony Stubblefield will serve as the interim coach, per the announcement. Prior to his second stint as an assistant under Altman in Oregon, Stubblefield was most recently the head coach at DePaul, accumulating a 28-54 record in three seasons with the Demons before he was fired.
Altman, 68, is the winningest coach in program history, with 382 wins across 16 seasons in Eugene. He led the Ducks to an Elite Eight appearance in 2016 and a Final Four in 2017, and has the 15th-most wins in NCAA history, ending his career with a 792-425 career record.
Stubblefield has deep ties to Oregon and Altman, having served as a longtime Ducks assistant under the school's winningest coach ever. It's unclear if Stubblefield is a band-aid option for the Ducks, or if he's a potential long-term coach for the school.
Here's what to know of Stubblefield, Oregon's new interim coach:
There's still an entire season to be played, so it's unclear if Stubblefield will be considered for Oregon's full-time role.
However, winning cures all, right?
It's hard to imagine Stubblefield not having a real shot to lift his interim tag if the Ducks were to find success in 2026-27. Stubblefield has head coaching experience, although it might not be working in his favor, due to DePaul's struggles from 2021-24.
Stubblefield was also once an interim coach in 2004-05 at New Mexico State, as then-head coach Lou Henson battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The Aggies went 2-12 in 14 games under Stubblefield.
Stubblefield does know the Oregon job, though: He previously spent 13 seasons as Altman's lead assistant with the Ducks, and was credited with the recruitments of future NBA players Payton Pritchard, Chris Duarte, Bol Bol and Troy Brown Jr.
Oregon said a national search will commence for a head coach after the season.
Stubblefield's head coaching record isn't great. He served as the interim head coach for 14 games in 2004-05 at New Mexico State, before he later landed his first head coaching gig at DePaul from 2021-24.
Here's a look at his year-by-year record:
* interim coach
Stubblefield has mostly served as an assistant during his long coaching career. Here's how his career path has unfolded:
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Tony Stubblefield be Oregon's next coach? What to know of interim, longtime assistant

There are four — count ‘em, four — LDS games going on today.
The White Sox host the Guardians in the early game, with Chicago in position to sweep and move on to the ALCS with a win. Its a 3 p.m. Central start on TBS.
The Braves host the Dodgers in the late afternoon game. Los Angeles is up 2-1, so the Braves need to win in order to force a game five in L.A. The game starts at 5 p.m. and is on FS1.
The Yankees, down 0-2, host the Rays in the early evening game. It is on TBS and starts at 7 p.m. Central.
Finally, the Brewers, up 2-1, play in San Diego against the Padres in the late game. It is a 9 p.m. start on FS1.
Talk about the games here.
Australian great Allan Border held his head in his hands, in complete disbelief at what he had just seen shared on the big screen at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town.

After an exciting 4-3 victory, the White Sox (84-78) incredibly hold a 2-0 series lead over the Guardians (85-77) in the ALDS. The South Siders are one victory away from advancing to the ALCS, where they have not been since 2005.
Sean Newcomb, 33, will start on the mound for the South Siders. Newcomb posted a 3.09 ERA and a 3.21 FIP in 90 1/3 regular season innings. Newcomb accumulated 1.7 fWAR, a very high single-season total for a relief pitcher. Newcomb pitched 8 1/3 innings against Cleveland in the regular season, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits. In that limited sample, the Guardians posted a .226/.368/.355 slash line against him.
Daniel Espino, 25, is a right-handed pitcher who will open the game against the South Siders. Espino posted a 4.11 ERA and a 3.75 FIP in 15 1/3 innings, resulting in an accumulation of 0.1 fWAR. Espino has pitched two innings and allowed one run against the White Sox. Miguel Vargas got the best of Espino on September 14, when he launched home run No. 31 out of 33 of his season.
Here are today’s starting lineups:


Baseball Reference keeps a statistic called cWPA, or Championship Win Probability Added. In this series, Grant Taylor (+3.42%) leads the way due to his ability to shut down the Guardians and close the first two games. Sean Burke (+3.00%) is No. 2, as his strong performance in Game 2 was crucial. Among hitters, Vargas (+2.81%) is the leader, as he is 2-for-4 with four walks. Munetaka Murakami (+2.07%) is next, which is no surprise, given that he is 3-for-8 with a homer. Up next is Braden Montgomery (+1.53%), who is only 1-for-7, but the lone hit was a clutch double that put the White Sox ahead.
This game is available on TBS and HBO Max, and the first pitch is scheduled to take place at 3:00 p.m. CT. Will the South Siders pick up another postseason series sweep? We will find out soon.
Sign up for a user account and get:

White Sox lead, 2-0
First pitch: 4:00 PM EDT
TV: TBS/HBO MAX
Probable pitchers: Sean Newcomb, LHP (CWS), Daniel Espino, RHP (CLE)
Dodgers lead, 2-1
First pitch: 6:00 PM EDT
TV: FS1/FOX ONE
Probable pitchers: Tyler Glasnow, RHP (LAD); Tyler Mahle, RHP (ATL)
Rays lead, 2-0
First pitch: 8:00 PM EDT
TV: TBS/HBO MAX
Probable pitchers: Max Fried, LHP (NYY), Nick Martinez, RHP (TB)
Brewers lead, 2-1
First pitch: 10:00 PM EDT
TV: FS1/FOX ONE
Probable pitchers: TBD (MIL); Walker Buehler, RHP (SDP)

Yoshinobu Yamamato starred for the Dodgers on Tuesday as they took a 2-1 lead over the Braves. The Padres scrapped their way to a victory to avoid elimination by the Brewers as starter Michael King filled in for ace closer Mason Miller, who is on paternity leave. On Wednesday, all four series are back in action, and four teams face elimination. The Guardians, Yankees, Padres, and Braves are all in a tight spot here and have to win or go home.
Here are the matchups for Wednesday, October 7.
Cleveland Guardians at Chicago White Sox (2-0): 4:00 p.m. ET, TBS
RHP Daniel Espino vs LHP Sean Newcomb
Los Angeles Dodgers (2-1) at Atlanta Braves: 6:00 p.m. ET, FS1
RHP Tyler Glasnow vs. RHP Tyler Mahle
Tampa Bay Rays (2-0) at New York Yankees: 8:00 p.m. ET, TBS
RHP Nick Martinez vs. LHP Max Fried
Milwaukee Brewers (2-1) at San Diego Padres: 10:00 p.m. ET, FS1
TBD vs RHP Walker Buehler

Four years ago, Cole Swider made his NBA debut for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played seven games before bouncing across the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors for brief spells in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Last year, he spent the season in Europe playing for Anadolu Efes, making 51 combined appearances between EuroLeague and the Turkish Super League.
Now, he’s back with the Lakers on an Exhibit 10 contract and is eager to show how much he’s improved in numerous ways.
“I’ve worked really, really hard on my body. Shout out to my performance coaches, Nick Correa and Anthony Tingley. I’ve worked really, really hard on my body. I’ve tried to change a lot of things,” Swider told reporters. “I’ve worked with doctors. I worked with many, many different people. It’s mostly defensively, trying to figure that side of the basketball out at this level. And then just being a more dynamic shooter, being able to come off of pin downs and DHOs and being able to cause havoc on the court just with my spacing ability.”
Whether it be in college, Europe or the G League, Swider’s been an excellent outside shooter. He shot 38% from deep in college, 45% in the G League and 41% overseas. Thus far, though, those long-range credentials haven’t translated to the NBA, where he’s made only 32.9% (28-of-85) of his career attempts.
That’s a much smaller sample than everything else, however, so perhaps a larger sample and Swider’s diligent work will help him showcase his elite shooting in the Association. If he’s actually a high-level shooter and has made physical improvements to take strides defensively, his chances of sticking around in the league are much higher.
Swider didn’t play Monday night against the Sacramento Kings but saw 12 minutes of action Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors and scored nine points on 3-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 beyond the arc. He also recorded two steals, two assists and two rebounds. He’ll hope to keep his torrid outside shooting going when the Lakers face the Kings Thursday night at home.
You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman claimed not to hear the boos that came raining down on him Tuesday night.
Having expected as much in his return to Atlanta this week, he simply blocked out the crowd every time he stepped to the plate.
“I don’t really hear much out there,” the future Hall of Fame first baseman said after Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday. “It’s just noise, because it’s so loud.”

There’s been plenty of noise around Freeman entering this series, of course, with the veteran Dodgers star being pitted against his old Braves team.
But from the beginning of the week, Freeman downplayed the narrative, minimizing his role in this best-of-five series.
It’s been half a decade, after all, since Freeman’s stunning free-agent departure from Atlanta and $162 million signing with the Dodgers during the 2022 offseason. At this point, only four of his former teammates from the Braves’ 2021 World Series campaign are even still with his former organization.
“I understand it will be a storyline, I get it,” Freeman told reporters before the start of this NLDS. “But it is five years later. I’m not going to try and look at it any differently.”
Indeed, the only real difference in this reunion has been the reception he received from his former home fans.

Over the years, Freeman usually receives ovations during his trips back to Truist Park. In his first return in 2022, he got choked up while being serenaded during his championship ring presentation.
On Tuesday night, however, there were no cheers when he was announced during pregame introductions or before the start of each of his at-bats.
Instead, he was met with a wave of repeated boos. One particularly vocal fan near the press box went so far as to begin chanting “traitor!”
To the 37-year-old, it was all to be anticipated.
“I’ve got a gray uniform on,” he said with a smile. “I expect boos. It’s OK.”

Freeman still made sure to reflect fondly on his 15 years in the Braves’ organization.
“I’ve had wonderful experiences with the white uniform on here,” he said. “I loved every second of it.”
Then again, he also loved the way that Tuesday’s 3-1 win played out, when he quieted the boos by hitting his second home run of the series.
It helped put the Dodgers one win from the NL Championship Series and the Braves’ season on the brink of elimination.
“We’re trying to win the game. They want to win it for their team,” he said. “So it’s OK. It’s all love. I still love everybody here.”
As for the boos, he was asked again:
“I would be surprised if they cheered me in October.”
If "Roundball Rock" has become an ear worm for you in recent days, that means two things. 1) You're one of us. 2) It's almost time for basketball season.
With the 2026-27 NBA season rapidly approaching, we’ve put together this handy Rotoworld Fantasy Basketball Draft Central hub page. It's your home for all of our preseason coverage in one place.
The best part? This is just the beginning of our coverage this preseason. Bookmark this page and check back often for our latest articles, rankings, analysis, and much more.
Bonus: If you scroll down, you can also download your FREE copy of the 2026 Rotoworld Fantasy Basketball Draft Kit.Did we mention that it's FREE?
Happy drafting season!
Click or tap here for a FREE downloadable version of the Draft Kit